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Topic: Filtering honey (Read 11111 times)

Just did a harvest today. Got about 30 gallons from 3 hives. I'm in serious need of a bigger extractor, especially as I am building up. I saw the one on another post that JP got. Nice one and I will be looking into one of those jobs in time. In the mean time, we were slowed up considerably by the filtering of the honey using the double sieve. It just gets clogged up way too fast. Any ideas what I can do to speed the process along? And before someone suggests not filtering, this is not an option. I need a filtering method that isn't going to eat time. 12 hours to extract 9 supers is ridiculous. Thanks!

Bassman, if you do not mind me asking, how old are these hives? This is my second year, but I had to start over with new packages and nucs this year since I lost all of my hives last year. I have the added bonus of drawn comb this year andhave pulled some oney, but I curious about how one gets so much honey from 3 hives. I have no shot of three supers per hive this year.

Location, location, location. Your bees must me in an area with with a good and steady nectar flow. For years I kept most of my bees in an area that I was convinced was outstanding. My bees did not do well and I did not make much honey. My mentor convinced me to move them. They do much better now and make me some honey.

Steve

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AndyBack in the 70s and 80s evryone had a water bed. When I got rid of mine I new that someday the heater would come in handy. If you can find one they wrap completely around a bucket and are about 15" wide so they cover from top to bottom. The thermistat can be set at 70- 100. As for JP extractor they are very nice. I got a 30 frame Maxant plus 3 knives and a 25gal water jacketed clarifier for 400.00

The hives in question are 3 years old. I have two others that are splits from this year. I started one on fully drawn foundation. I expect to get comb honey from this one. The other, I am not going to get anything from it this year.

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I have the added bonus of drawn comb this year and have pulled some oney,

I replaced a bunch of comb in the brood boxes this year from all of my older hives, they are foundationless. They are all rebuilt.

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but I curious about how one gets so much honey from 3 hives.

The area I have a couple of my hives have a lot of wild flowers and other nectar producing plants. Lots of farming area and just brushy areas not being used for anything. I knew it would be a good area for the bees, but never expected to get what I got. This is my first year at this particular outyard. I'll be expanding there next season. My home apiary is kind of similar (it's about 5 miles from my outyard). I've always had pretty good success at my home apiary. Not last year though. Last year was just outright bad.

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Back in the 70s and 80s evryone had a water bed. When I got rid of mine I new that someday the heater would come in handy. If you can find one they wrap completely around a bucket and are about 15" wide so they cover from top to bottom. The thermistat can be set at 70- 100. As for JP extractor they are very nice. I got a 30 frame Maxant plus 3 knives and a 25gal water jacketed clarifier for 400.00

Thanks I'll check into the water bed heater. I think my dad might have some of that laying around somewhere. How do you like the clarifier? Do you have a dedicated honey room?

In the mean time, we were slowed up considerably by the filtering of the honey using the double sieve. It just gets clogged up way too fast. Any ideas what I can do to speed the process along?

I just had that problem last week. Fortunately, the person I borrowed the extractor from also included their double sieve, so I had two sets. When one got clogged, I could just swap it out, let it drain, and then scrape out the debris.

AndyI have not set anything up yet so I dont know how the clarifier will work. I have a 3 stall garage with a kitchen set up in one stall. I am planning on building a dedicated honey house so at this time I'm just collect equipment when I can find a deal.

Gotcha. I don't know what I am going to do as far as a dedicated honey house yet. In the next couple years I will be building a 3 1/2 car garage and was considering attaching a honey house to it, but we'll see. I think whatever I build, it'll have to be something that I can use as something else for when the time comes and I get too old for this.

AndyBack in the 70s and 80s evryone had a water bed. When I got rid of mine I new that someday the heater would come in handy. If you can find one they wrap completely around a bucket and are about 15" wide so they cover from top to bottom. The thermistat can be set at 70- 100.

Do you have to monitor the heat closely?

I can remember toasting the bottom of a matress that didn't have adequate water in it. I believe they work best when they have a large volume of water to heat.

My curse is that my parents came from the Depression era. They never threw anything away that might be used in the future. I'm a horrible packrat because of it, to my wife's frustration. I've still got mine from the "free-spirit" days. But I might add, you can still get a great deal on ebay.

One of the biggest problems with clogs, I've found, is the way you prepare the frames. Cappings scrathers are horrible for filtering, whether or not you have an uncapping tank. Alternately, you may want to consider a hot knife to uncap. Very low tech, to be sure, but very clean.

Using warm frames is so much easier, but instead of fancy heating bands or a hot honey house consider placing a low wattage bulb in an empty super, below your honey supers. It warms them nicely without any special considerations.